Science Headlines | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Scientists Bring Visual ‘Magic’ to Light

Scientists from mixed reality technology company Magic Leap Inc., working with researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), have developed new, versatile ways to control and enhance the light-bending properties of synthetic optical nanostructures.

Discovery Suggests New Significance of Unheralded Chemical Reactions

A type of chemical reaction originally thought to be of little practical importance when hypothesized nearly a century ago may actually constitute major chemical pathways in the interaction of different gases, potentially offering new insights into engine dynamics and even the atmospheres of different planets.

Scientists Developing Innovative Techniques for High-Resolution Analysis of Hybrid Materials

In an effort to better study a promising class of materials that could energize the solar cell industry, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a new method of analyzing the material’s molecular-scale structure.

Ames Laboratory Scientists Move Graphene Closer to Transistor Applications

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory were able to successfully manipulate the electronic structure of graphene, which may enable the fabrication of graphene transistors-- faster and more reliable than existing silicon-based transistors.

New X-Ray Laser Technique Reveals Magnetic Skyrmion Fluctuations

A new way of operating the powerful X-ray laser at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has enabled researchers to detect and measure fluctuations in magnetic structures being considered for new data storage and computing technologies.

The Outsized Role of Soil Microbes

Three scientists have proposed a new approach to better understand the role of soil organic matter in long-term carbon storage and its response to changes in global climate and atmospheric chemistry.

SLAC’s Blair Ratcliff Wins American Physical Society’s Instrumentation Award

The emeritus physicist was honored for the development of novel detectors that have greatly advanced experiments in particle physics, especially BABAR, which looked into the matter-antimatter imbalance of the universe.

Texas Southern University Research Team Advances Safety, Efficiency at NSLS-II

This summer, two student interns and their professor from Texas Southern University (TSU) are making a significant impact on the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II), a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Young Scientists Show Off Hands-on Research Projects at PPPL

For Dhruvit Patel, a rising senior majoring in mechanical engineering and physics at Rutgers University, the 10 weeks he spent at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) were a welcome opportunity to do hands-on research.

Guang Zhang’s Great Leap Forward in Understanding Deep Convection

Research meteorologist Guang Zhang solves convection puzzles at a bank of computers, integrating observational data with computer simulations that have predictive value, for the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.

National Synchrotron Light Source II Celebrates Two Years of User Operations

In July of 2017, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory wished a happy second birthday to the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II). Located at Brookhaven, NSLS-II is a DOE Office of Science User Facility that provides ultra-bright x-rays for cutting-edge science research.

PPPL Physicist Discovers That Some Plasma Instabilities Can Extinguish Themselves

Physicist Fatima Ebrahimi at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has for the first time used advanced models to accurately simulate key characteristics of the cyclic behavior of edge-localized modes (ELMs), a particular type of plasma instability.